Friday, July 9, 2010

Bluff City Vegan Eats: Cafe Eclectic (and a Blogger Meetup!)

When Jessica of Veggie Cookie mentioned an upcoming trip to Memphis on her blog a few weeks ago, I left a comment suggesting that we do lunch. I never miss an opportunity for a blogger meet-up! Apparently, Memphis is Jessica's hometown, but she hasn't lived here since 1999 (I think that's right ... correct me Jessica if I'm wrong about the year). She and her partner Alex were headed to the M-town to visit Jessica's folks.

But thankfully, the two had enough time during their visit to meet me for lunch at Cafe Eclectic. Here's Alex, Jessica, and me in front of our booth:

Cafe Eclectic is a laidback Midtown coffeeshop with a full breakfast and lunch menu. The menu has a vegetarian selection, but there are several other veg options (or easily made veg) lurking in other areas of the menu. But it never fails. Despite having a few options to choose from, I always order the Spicy Black Bean Wrap with Roasted Taters:

The gigantic wrap is stuffed with Cafe Eclectic's spicy black bean patty, avocado, lettuce, tomato, and spicy Vegenaise (yes, they have spicy freakin' Vegenaise ... I guess they add the spice part in house). The black bean patty is also pretty tasty on a bun too.

Other veg options include a hummus wrap, a portabello panini (leave off the pesto and cheese to make it vegan), a veggie dog, and black bean and rice stuffed bell peppers. Of course, they also offer soy for their tasty coffees. And Cafe Eclectic sells delicious fresh-baked sourdough loaves and baguettes in their bakery case.

Cafe Eclectic Midtown is located at 603 N. McLean Blvd. Call them at 901-725-1718 or check out their website here. They also have a smaller location in Harbor Town at 111 Harbortown Square.

My name is Bianca ...

About Me

I'm a 9-year vegan, 19-year vegetarian from the Mid-South, not too far from the muddy banks of the Mississippi River. And that means cornbread, butter beans, and collard greens.
These days, I live in Memphis. Check out my cookbook — Cookin' Crunk. It's filled with yummilicious veganized soul food and country classics.